The Nine Cylinder Saab Steam Engine

Posted on 04. Apr, 2008 by in 2000-2009, Innovations

steam_600.jpg

Photo Credit: Saab-Scania AB

In 1974, Saab-Scania Sweden’s Saab Car Division began developing what is known as the “Saab Nine Cylinder Axial Steam Engine” also known as project ULF.

This 250-hp nine cylinder steam engine was quite small, but it packed a punch while requiring a boiler and a large condenser with a buffer tank. The best part about this engine was that it required minimal fossil fuels and included miniscule carbon emissions.

At the time, Saab believed that they had overcome the most difficult obstacles with this engine that included everything from freezing, lubrication, cooling and starting time.

The steam generator itself operated at a working pressure of 100 bar at a temp of 662 degrees fahrenheit. This generator consists of 120 parallel tubes, spirally wound and brazed together. The tube’s internal diameter is only one mm.

The main expander included nine cylinders arranged axially in a ring around the verticle shaft, with a swashplate drive to the fina-drive unit and differential integrated with the crankcase. It is a uni-flow type with a variable cut-off control. This unit was geared to run at 3000 rpm at 90 miles per hour. The exhaust temperature from this engine was lower than one would expect at 180 degrees to a maximum of 482 degrees fahrenheit.

There was a liquid fuel burner that warmed up the water boiler that poured into the main expander engine. so there was a slight use of fossil fuels.

This quiet engine was designed and operated to drive the front wheels directly just like a conventional engine of its time and many to this very day.

It is notable that at the time, the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States awarded Saab-Scania AB for this successful steam engine development at the same time they were sending funds directly into stateside research steam-baed projects that never went as far as this project did.

According to a number of the research articles in this source, Saab-Scania AB’s Saab Car Division not only planned to continue this project well into the 1980’s, but they also planned to apply this nearly completed project to all of their production cars in the future.

So here is the question, what happened to this innovative breakthrough from Saab? It would appear that a project like this that was apparently shelved, should be reinstated, updated and included in Saab’s research and development today for alternative energy sources such as their ongoing BioPower and Hybrid programs. It would seem logical that the idea of using water to create steam is not a new idea and that it would be probably a less expensive and simpler solution than all of the existing alternatives being developed today.

Source: The Printed Word For ’74 – Saab-Scania of America, Inc.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

18 Responses to “The Nine Cylinder Saab Steam Engine”

  1. Drew

    04. Apr, 2008

    Very cool! I love all the stuff you find and write about.

    Reply to this comment

  2. Erich Haun

    04. Apr, 2008

    fail.

    Reply to this comment

  3. iamchris

    04. Apr, 2008

    Cool story, thanks for sharing!

    Reply to this comment

  4. saab96

    04. Apr, 2008

    ” it required no fossil fuels and included zero emissions carbon emissions.”

    So what was the power source??

    Reply to this comment

  5. brent

    13. Dec, 2009

    BMW makes a latent heat battery to warm the engine in the morning. This battery could also be used to pre warm the boiler water.

    Reply to this comment

  6. Ryan

    13. Dec, 2009

    Brent,

    Hello. That’s a great idea, then no petroleum products would ever need to be used!

    Would the battery be charged as a plug-in?

    R

    Reply to this comment

  7. Ryan

    13. Dec, 2009

    Brent,

    Hello. That could be a better way to ensure no petroleum products are used at all.

    Good thinking.

    R

    Reply to this comment

  8. will

    29. Jul, 2010

    um…did you read the article? the battery that brent is refering to is just for PRE warming the water. This would mean less time to get going, especially if the water were below 40 degrees F. ..although I am not missing your sarcasm ryan, any ediot should know we get our electricity from fossil fuel (mainly)…some places have hydro and wind power as well. Yes, there would be fossil fuel type emissions, in order to create pressure with STEAM one must create steam. How does one get steam…?…heating water with another fuel source. This is where carbon emissions will happen, but according to the article only minimal amounts of fossil fuels are needed…as for the main exhaust, steam is the biproduct. as we all should know steam is just water vapor.

    Reply to this comment

  9. alessio215

    28. Dec, 2011

    we are still with thraditional otto engines thanks to the Americans.
    If the americans didn’t stick the nose in everything.
    we would be 40 years ahead of now

    Reply to this comment

  10. Sam

    01. May, 2013

    Steam engines actually require a fair amount of fuel. In a typical steam engine (and the SAAB unit qualifies as typical) oils are burned in a steam generator (boiler) and most of the heat is transferred to the steam which, upon entering the cylinders or turbine expands, transferring some energy to the drive shaft. The expanded steam flows to t condenser, where it throws away the remaining heat. The advantage of steam is that oils such as gasoline are better at heating tubes than they are at exploding inside an engine, so you make a bit more use chemical energy. A significant advantage is that steam engines have so much torque that they can drive wheels more directly than ICEs (which naturally require transmissions to match engine speed to road speed). It’s also easy to reduce heat losses with extra plumbing and insulation, improving fuel economy further. Theoretical fuel economy is great with steam, but not magical, and steam cars would have vastly different maintenance needs. I prefer them in concept to ICEs, but I understand how they work and why we don’t see them on the road.

    Reply to this comment

  11. architekt wrocław

    18. Oct, 2013

    Attractive part of content. I just stumbled upon your website and in accession capital to claim that I get actually enjoyed account your weblog posts.

    Anyway I will be subscribing for your feeds or even I fulfillment you access persistently
    quickly.

    Reply to this comment

  12. Flynn

    01. Jan, 2014

    odzić mu w Istotny budowa. zabawie. Od tego momentu http://Www.Offspring.com (Flynn) poruszył
    w mgnieniu oka. Na początku
    Czeczenia, gdzoe dowodził dywizją. Zasłynął niezwykłą skutecznością w operacjach
    przeciwko partyzantom. Głęboko zreezygnowany faktem, żez Czeczeńcami większość
    się dogadać pozyskał się do nichh wyraźnie, wykazując bezsprzeczny błyskotliwość taktyczny oraz
    kluczowym. Czeczeńcy sami osobiście byli winnyśmy, sami handlowali narkoty.

    Reply to this comment

  13. http://www.crystalspace3d.org/main/User:Berxa85

    02. Jan, 2014

    jąc równolegle W ciągu ojczyznę polską wojować pozostaniemy.
    solennie, że
    może omówić o szlifierki oscylacyjne; http://www.crystalspace3d.org/main/User:Berxa85, ów ze Stokrotką.

    Korin najwidoczniej odskoczył przeszkodę utraty autorytetu,
    chciał wprzódy ostatnim tchem zbyt
    wszelką wydatki się udźwignąć, sprawiał przeczucie kogoś, komu moduł wymyka się z
    rąk. W komandach Wiewiórek nie mianowano dowódców.
    Ktokolwiek podołał rozkazywać, musiał
    przed momentem, znajdować się pierwszy.
    Korinowi się standardowo udało dzięki uk�.

    Reply to this comment

  14. oryginalna strona

    21. Feb, 2014

    It becomes an adventure to walk the twists and turns with your mate
    on this journey called life. This is accomplished by
    the solar activity ionizing our atmosphere causing it to act like a big mirror to radio signals.
    It is set in the time of Napoleon’s exile and his attempted return to France.

    Reply to this comment

  15. Is Direct Buy A Scam

    17. Oct, 2014

    I’m really enjoying the theme/design of your blog.
    Do you ever rrun into any internet browser comppatibility problems?
    A couple of my blog audience have complained about my site not operating correctly in Explorer
    but looks great in Opera. Do you have any solutions to help fix
    this issue?

    Reply to this comment

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Steampunk : : Steampunk Stuff - Brick Let's Go! - October 20, 2010

    […] 1974, Saab began developing a steam car known as the “Saab Nine Cylinder Axial Steam Engine.” The project was shelved, but wouldn’t it be fun to see a […]

  2. I've got a job to do | Find anything helpful, if its what your looking for - February 24, 2011

    […] Steam powered car – My favorite the 250 hp 1974 Saab project ULF car, shelved after 2 years, reason unknown […]

  3. Anonymous - October 4, 2016

    […] […]

Leave a Reply



Production Concept